Shortage of liberties, in current English go literature, is the standard translation of the Japanese term, damezumari. But since English liberty is broader than Japanese dame (in the sense of empty adjacent point), the English phrase has a broader application.
Shortage of liberties is the source of many of the basic tactics of the game. It is helpful to distinguish initially two attitudes:
and
You do need to get past the first stage (beware self-atari, for example), before getting concerned with the unexpected possibilities of the second.
For example, here Black is somewhat short of liberties:
If Black wants to cut White with a play at the circled point, is short of liberties to do that successfully. But in this situation, so what? White has connected, and Black in no sense deserves to be able to cut.
But maybe White has just played to connect, creating a shortage of liberties. This is just an ordinary tactic, but White's play at
, rather than the circled point, is skilful, making an eye and a point of territory. Both players here are presumably aware of all this.
On the other hand, here is an example where the stones plainly have a shortage of liberties.
When Black plays at , White should not respond at
, but must answer, if at all, at
or
. White must give up the three stones.
This diagram is an example of oiotoshi.
Black pushes at 1 to create weaknesses, but...
...because of shortage of liberties, he can no longer play a to make a second eye
This example shows a capturing race between the bamboo joint ( stones) and a black wall (
stones).
Contrary to appearances, both groups have the same number of liberties, as explained in the bamboo joint may be short of liberties. That is, the capturing race here is a win for the player making the first move.
Shortage of liberties is one of the major aspects of bad shape. It is more apparent to novices than, for example, efficiency, because it readily translates into tactics. For example, it is taught that the empty triangle is bad shape. It suffers both from a lack of liberties, and inefficiency - but the former is perhaps more immediately convincing.
The term damezumari in Japanese refers to an acute state of shortage of liberties, causing a specific tactical problem.
Some of the many ways in which shortage of liberties may manifest itself are:
Shortage of liberties should be seen as a major source of tactical constraints (comparable to the need to connect, or make eyes). It has been suggested that just as liberty is ambiguous, so shortage of liberties has distinct forms. If one tries to analyse the general concept, to define it, one certainly comes up against the same discussion as for liberty (tactical)?.
Therefore it is better to look at many examples, as an introduction.
Bill: The first example on this page says that Black is short of liberties, not that he has a shortage of liberties. I agree. :-)
The Free Dictionary gives two senses of shortage.
1. shortage - the property of being an amount by which something is less than expected or required
The only true requirement for liberties in go is that stones cannot remain on the board with no liberties. It is the second sense that applies.
2. shortage - an acute insufficiency
In the first example, while Black is short one liberty of being able to cut off the White groups from each other, he is not suffering an acute insufficiency of liberties. It's not that bad. Just because one is short of liberties for some purpose does not mean that one has a shortage of liberties. A shortage of liberties is a problem.
I agree that, if White's last local play made the connection by taking away one of Black's liberties, it would be correct to say that Black suffered from a shortage of liberties. White's play created the problem. You cannot always look at a position and say whether there is a shortage of liberties. You have to consider the context and dynamics of the situation.
Since seki is not a problem, per se, I do not agree with seki's listing as an example of shortage of liberties. (That may be an oversight in the recent edit, I don't know.)
There is a saying, A shortage of liberties (damezumari) is worse than constipation (funzumari). If you don't feel the constriction, it's not a shortage of liberties.
See the Shortage of liberties / Discussion for a politer version
Edit 2003-11-08 by Charles Matthews, after earlier additions here by Sebastian. Snotnose, Bill Spight, John Fairbairn. The Shortage of liberties / Discussion page now has the extended debate.